


They Can’t Understand, The Magic of Your Wonderland

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff and Angst, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-01
Updated: 2013-06-01
Packaged: 2017-12-13 14:29:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/825354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes Louis forgets to use his inside voice. Zayn is still his friend regardless.</p>
            </blockquote>





	They Can’t Understand, The Magic of Your Wonderland

**Author's Note:**

> The title comes from the song “The Best Of Friends” in The Fox and the Hound.

Louis Tomlinson was a “problem child”. So said every teacher and school official with whom his mother and step-father interacted. It became such a problem that it was determined he was to be held back a year. Louis didn’t quite mind, as he never did get on with the others in his class. His inability to sit still, and his constant need to be “funny” and “entertaining” during Quiet Time was not appreciated by anyone.

So on his second first day of Year 3, he put on his school uniform with his special suspenders for courage and prepared for a new start. As he held his mother’s hand as they walked to school, it suddenly dawned on him that he knew no one in his class. What if no one liked him? What if they were mean to him again? What if this year was just a miserable repeat of last year? He squeezed his mother’s hand with both of his. “Mum.” He whispered. “I don’t know anyone here.”

Jay smiled and ruffled his hair. “You’ll be just fine, love. You’re smart and charming and everyone will love you.” She kissed his forehead as they reached the door to his classroom. “Be brave, darling. And try your very hardest to use your indoor voice. You’ll have a great day.”

Louis nodded and tried to smile, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. He walked into the classroom to see only a handful of kids had arrived. He emptied his bookbag into his desk, and hung his coat up in his cubby, checking to make sure his Spider-Man action figure was safe in the pocket before zipping it back shut.

He sat down next to a dark-haired boy who wore a look of concentration Louis had never seen before. He looked down at the boy’s paper to see it was covered in drawings and doodlings. “Whatcha doing?!” He asked in his outside voice, causing the boy to jump and smudge the outline he was so meticulously creating. Louis cringed, already having forgotten the words his mother had just told him.

The boy looked up at Louis with wide eyes. “I’m drawing.” He said quietly before returning to his work.

Louis clapped his hands together. “Brilliant! What is it? Who’s in it? What’s it about?” He bounced up and down in his seat. “Am I in it?!”

“I don’t even know you.” The boy was watching Louis with a mixture of curiosity and hesitation. But there didn’t seem to be any irritation, and Louis took that as a good sign.

“My name’s Louis. Louis Tomlinson!” He stuck out his hand that the other boy carefully shook.

“Zayn.”

*****  
As time went on, the two became close friend. Zayn had a way of touching Louis’s wrist to calm him down when he started to get a bit too rambunctious in class. He had a calming effect on Louis, oftentimes far more than the little blue pill Louis took each morning with his breakfast. Louis always listened to Zayn, even when he didn’t listen to his teacher. His marks were far better this go, and there were absolutely no spitballs thrown at him. Well, just one, but that’s because Zayn’s friend Niall was trying to hit Zayn, but his aim was just terrible.

And as a reward for being patient and quiet, Louis finally was allowed to discover just what was in Zayn’s sketchbook. He had yet to accidentally tell anyone about it, as Zayn had sworn him to secrecy. Louis spent many Quiet Times flipping through the sketchbook, marveling at Zayn’s talent. He drew comic book characters, just as well as the real artists, Louis had decided. And as far as Louis could tell, he was the only one that even knew it existed. This was a very big secret and Louis was doing a fantastic job at keeping it. But Zayn was his only friend, and he wanted to keep him as well.

Louis finally told Zayn one day that he had been held back a grade. They were skateboarding in the cul-de-sac by Louis’s house, when Louis blurted it out. “You know I’m 9, right? I’ll be 10 in December. You knew that, yeah?”

Zayn rolled to a stop and flipped his board up into his arms. “No. I didn’t know that. Is that a big deal?” There were times Louis wasn’t sure if Zayn just pretended not to care, or if he genuinely didn’t. His eyes were always narrow, and he tilted his head to the side, as if that was the way his brain absorbed all his knowledge. He did it in class, tilted his head to the left; sometimes too far, knocking into Louis’s.

“The kids my age don’t like me. They always made fun of me. I didn’t get good marks and they held me back. So now I’m in Year 3 again.”

Zayn considered this new information. He always took so long to process things, but not in the way Louis did. Zayn knew exactly what was going on; it was his response he was forever carefully considering. Finally, after a long while he asked, “Is there something wrong with you?”

Louis looked at the ground, kicked the gravel around his feet. “You know how sometimes I get excited, and you touch my wrist and I calm down? Sometimes I get so excited, I can’t stop myself.”

“Is that why you’re always so loud and sometimes you interrupt Ms. Baxter?”

Louis could feel his ears turning red. The boys in his class last year constantly made fun of him and threw spitballs when he interrupted. He knew Zayn was just trying to understand. “Yes, and that’s why I tell jokes. But no one finds them funny. No one laughed last year and no one laughs now.” He could feel the tears forming in the back of his eyes, standing on edge, waiting for the go-ahead. He willed them back; no need to cry over this.

Instead, Zayn just shrugged. “I think they’re funny.”

Louis realized he must have been spacing out, caught up in his own head thinking his own thoughts, because Zayn was waving his board in front of his face. “I said it’s not a big deal. Let’s skate some more. My mum said I have to be home at 6:30.”

*****  
While the school year was going well, and Louis was doing exceptionally well, he had yet to make any other friends in class, and always stuck by Zayn’s side. At recess, when Zayn would sit by the big oak tree and sketch, Louis would be brave and play football with the “older kids” (who were all his age, he tried not to remind himself). The only one that talked to him was Aiden, and that was only because he talked to everyone. While Aiden was friendly at recess and would wave to Louis in the halls, he never sat with him and Zayn at lunch, and he never invited him over on Saturdays with the other boys. Louis was beginning to realize his only friend truly was Zayn.

The thing was; Louis wasn’t Zayn’s only friend. Zayn had Harry and Niall, and some cropped-hair kid he thought was called Liam who was painfully shy and never ever spoke. Zayn had other people besides him. And when he would invite Louis over when the others were there, he tried very hard to be funny and witty, but Zayn was the only one that much appreciated it. Niall seemed to think he was funny, but when the others wouldn’t react, his smile would retreat back up into his face, and he would turn back to the video games. One Sunday, Louis didn’t much feel like being ignored anymore, and asked Zayn’s mother if he could ring home.

“Are you not having fun, dear?” Tricia asked with concerned eyes. “Would you like to sit in the kitchen with me for a bit? Help me make lunch?”

Louis could feel the army of tears at the ready again. He blinked hard and shook his head. “I feel ill. I’d like to go home, please.”

On the car ride home, he cried into his jumper about how the other boys just didn’t find him funny and didn’t like when he jumped around and told stories with his whole body. He knew he was different, but this wasn’t at school, and it was okay to be himself when he wasn’t at school; his mother always told him that. He had to try his very best to be Scholar Louis at school, but he could be Real Louis at home. “Why doesn’t anyone like Real Louis, Mum?” He wiped his nose on his sleeve. “I’m very funny and Zayn is the only one that ever laughs at my jokes.”

Jay didn’t meet her son’s eyes. “Sometimes, Louis, people don’t understand. Sometimes it’s easier to poke fun than to try and understand why someone is the way they are. But Zayn is your friend. Zayn understands you and he likes you. He is a very good friend to you.”

“I wish Niall and Harry and Liam were my mates. We could be very good mates, too. Like the Power Rangers.”

“Do you want to invite them to your birthday party, then? You could invite them; that would be a nice thing to do. What do you think?”

Louis considered this for a moment. He hadn’t wanted a party last year, but this year maybe Zayn would come and he would bring all his friends and it would be a great time. “Yes. Let’s have a party, Mum. It will be the best party of all-time!”

*****  
As Louis’s birthday neared, he became more excited about his party. One day while sledding, he asked Zayn if his friends would want to come as well. “It’ll be fun! Everyone loves cake!”

Zayn nodded. “I’ll come. I’ll ask the others. When is it?”

“It is next Saturday at 2pm at my house. They don’t even have to bring me gifts, they can just come for cake and pizza and I have the new FIFA Football 2002 that we can play!” Louis jumped from one foot to the other. “It’ll be brilliant!”

“Okay. I’ll ask them.” Zayn smiled, but Louis noticed he didn’t push his tongue against his teeth, the telltale sign of a true smile. His heart sank.

“Zayn, even if the others don’t come, you’ll still come, right? You’ll still come to my party?”

He threw a snowball at him. “Yeah, of course. Someone’s gotta beat you at FIFA!”

*****  
On the day of his birthday party, Louis was awake far earlier than he had ever been awake, even for his actual birthday and even for Christmas. But he had to make sure everything was perfect and just so for when everyone arrived. He didn’t invite anyone else, and Zayn swore the other boys would be there. Jay had called and spoken to each boy’s parents who confirmed the boys would be there at 2pm. There wasn’t anything that could possibly go wrong.

Louis took his time in the shower, even washing behind his ears, which he really only did for special occasions. He put on his one pair of slacks that didn’t have holes in the knees and his red and white suspenders. It was his birthday party and he wanted everyone to know it.

At 1:55, he sat in the big green chair by the window and waited. He had found his extra controllers from his Playstation, and he made sure the game was working. Sometimes, it would freeze and the last thing he needed was for that to happen today. He stared at the grandfather clock in the corner, and as it struck 2, he sat up straight in the chair.

He waited. Soon it became 2:15. And then 2:30. It was snowing, but he was sure it wasn’t icy, and it most certainly wasn’t a blizzard. There was no reason for anyone to be this late. Louis was worried that not even Zayn was there yet. Finally, he went into the kitchen and asked to phone Zayn. Jay looked at her son. “I’m sure he’s on his way, boobear. Do you want a biscuit while you wait?”

Louis put on his brave face and shook his head. “No. I will sit in the chair and wait.”  
As the time ticked by, Louis’s bravery lessened and lessened. He tried to remind himself that Zayn promised he would be there. And Zayn always kept his promises. He was Louis’s very best friend and he would not let him down. Louis accepted the others weren’t going to come. But he knew Zayn would be there.

Finally, at 2:46pm, there was a knock on the door. Louis scrambled up from the chair and threw the front door opened. There stood Zayn, with his parents flanked on either side of him. He held a big box and had an even bigger grin on his face, his tongue against his teeth. “Happy Birthday, mate!” He set the box on the chair, grabbed Louis, and ran into the living room.

Jay shook Tricia and Yaser’s hands. “They aren’t coming, are they?” She smiled sadly. “I’m not sure I could ever fully express what a blessing Zayn has been for Louis this year. His marks have been wonderful, and his confidence has grown. I don’t think this year would have been anything as great without your son.”

Tricia hugged her. “I spoke with the other boys’ parents, and told them that Louis really was a lovely boy, and that they all got along well when they play at our house. But they didn’t want to come. And…Zayn was quite upset that the other boys didn’t take to Louis like he did. He was so upset, I wasn’t sure he would want to come. But he’s so proud of his present that he insisted he come over still. He wouldn’t even let us see it. He’s been working on it for months, holed up in his room. He was drawing something, but he never let us see. He said Louis is the only person who has ever seen it, and that Louis kept it a secret and so would he.”

*****  
Louis threw down his controller after the third match. He looked at Zayn, his bottom lip quivering. “The other lads don’t like me, do they?”

Zayn set his controller down and looked at his hands. “Do you want your present now, Louis?”

“No. I want to know. They don’t like me, do they?”

“They just don’t understand you like I do? My mum said they don’t understand that you get excited and can’t keep that in. She said they can’t see that you have something special. But you know I see that, right? They’re my mates, but you’re my best mate, right?”

Louis wasn’t quite able to keep his tears behind his eyeballs at that point. He snuffled and wiped his nose. “You’re the very best mate I’ve ever had, Zayn. And I appreciate you.”

Zayn pulled him into a hug, nuzzled his nose into Louis’s neck. “Would you like your present now?” He ran into the other room and retrieved the box, plopping it in Louis’s lap.

He opened it carefully, and pulled out the book. As he leafed through it, he realized it was a comic book. A comic book that involved him…and Zayn as his sidekick. Louis looked suspiciously like Spider-Man and Zayn looked suspiciously like Alpha. “What’s this? ZAP?”

Zayn smiled. “It’s like a secret signal. It can be our real life secret signal? Something just the two of us know? Like, if we want something to appear, we just say ZAP, and it’s there.”

Louis held out his fist. “ZAP. This is the very best present I’ve ever gotten.”

“I’m glad you like it. I think it’s my best work. But ZAP, I want some cake.”


End file.
